Indonesian rescuers dug through mud with shovels and their bare hands for a third day on Monday in the hunt for dozens of people still missing after a landslide engulfed a village, as the death toll rose to 56.
Fifty-two people are still unaccounted for after heavy rain triggered the landslide that swallowed houses in Jemblung village on Java island late Friday. Officials say the chances of finding anyone alive are now slim.
More than 1,000 rescuers, including police and soldiers, have been digging through huge mounds of red mud and debris that cascaded onto the village, which lies in a valley surrounded by hills, with a sound like thunder.
"We hope and pray that we can rescue some of the missing but the chances are slim," local search and rescue chief Agus Haryono said.
National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said late Monday 17 bodies, including those of four children, were retrieved Monday, taking the death toll to 56.
Bulldozers and excavators were still trying to clear a huge pile of fallen trees and earth blocking the main road to the site, in the hope of speeding up the rescue effort, he added.
Several people were seriously injured in the disaster and hundreds of others evacuated from the area.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by persistent heavy downpours.
President Joko Widodo visited the scene at the weekend and urged authorities to speed up rescue efforts.
Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo has said the search-and-rescue effort at the site of the landslide in Banjarnegara, Central Java, will continue until all victims have been found.
“We expect that by Dec.21, all the victims will have been found. Up to now the bodies of 40 victims have been recovered,” he told The Jakarta Post in Banjarnegara on Monday.
Heavy rains that fell in Central Java over the past several days have caused landslides in several highland areas such as the one that occurred in Jemblung hamlet in Banjarnegara regency, Central Java, on Friday evening.
As many as 108 villagers were buried when the side of a 300-meter-high hill collapsed and covered their houses.
According to official data, Jemblung hamlet comprised 103 houses with a total population amounting to 320 people. Fifty-three of the houses, along with their occupants, were buried during Friday’s landslide disaster, while many of the other houses were severely damaged.
Hundreds of survivors have been evacuated to temporary shelters in village halls, schools, musholla (houses of prayer) and undamaged houses.
Landslides triggered by heavy rains and floods are common in tropical Indonesia during the rainy season. The national disaster agency estimates around half the country's population of 250 million lives in areas prone to slippages.
The vast Indonesian archipelago is prone to natural disasters and is frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Tuesday 16 December 2014
http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/indonesian-landslide-death-toll-rises-56-another-52-people-still-mis
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/15/governor-expects-all-landslide-victims-be-found.html
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